On Wednesday and then again this morning during assembly, I was obliged to pay up on a little wager I had with one of my Year 2 boys and then subsequently with all of Year 6, on the topic of England’s progress during the football World Cup. If England had won last night, all of Year 6 would have to perform head stands and cartwheels in assembly...as they didn’t, it was left to me to pay up! Not known for my prowess at gymnastics, I can say quite honestly that my back will take some time to recover, and unfortunately, my staff photographed the whole thing, so you can see my rather poor effort in the photo. Lots of fun!

As another week goes by, we can celebrate the amazing work of our Year 3,4,5 and 6 pupils in the Art Exhibition today, some pieces are quite remarkable. Our Under 11 boys made it through to the final of the Berkhamsted Cricket Tournament and yesterday our swimmers...well, please read Mr Butterfield’s write up of our outstanding swim team as they came second in a prestigious competition. We will be saying good luck to six pupils and Mr Hogg next week - they are travelling to Birmingham to take part in the finals of the National Chess competition. They are one of the top eight schools in the country who have qualified and, who knows, they can maybe go on to achieve even greater heights.

With today being Sports’ Day, I will allow our gallery of pictures to tell much of our stories, but on Wednesday I was yet again removed from my post as Headteacher and replaced for the day by Dylan and Max, in Year 1 and Year 5 respectively. Many commented that both boys did a far better job than me, and Max made it very clear to my staff during their break time staff meeting that he would take no nonsense from anyone! They signed off a number of orders, they led the lines at school, they did a Health and Safety Audit with Mr Leuzinger amongst other things and left me to put my feet up! It was great fun and maybe they will both become Headteachers of the future?

Very well done to Samuel Ancliffe who, off his own back, decided to donate his birthday money to one of our chosen charities, above and beyond his already considerable efforts raising money in school. He has presented a cheque to Rosie’s Rainbow for the amount of £90. A generous gesture Samuel, we are so proud of you.

From September we would like to offer some parent and sibling after school Yoga classes and Mrs Carman, an outstanding Yoga practitioner and teacher, will be helping us put on these Community Yoga sessions. For more information please click on this link and I will send out more details next week.

Well, I am hoping that my back recovers for the Caribbean cricket on Wednesday, one of our Year 6 leavers events, although I may relegate myself to the BBQ and bar work rather than getting involved with all of the sport - I guess I am getting too old!

Have a super weekend and I look forward to seeing many of you in school over the next week.

Justin Spanswick